Scott Aoki Lab

People

Current Members

Scott Aoki
PI
staoki(at)iu.edu
CV, ORCID, Pubmed

Artistic heroes: Tom Waits, Jack White

Cody White
Graduate Student (joint)
codawhit(at)iu.edu

Fun Fact: I have climbed the 37th tallest mountain in the US

Venkatesh Balaji
MS student
vebalaji(at)iu.edu

TBD Fact: I have climbed the 37th tallest mountain in the US

Quinn Lyday
Postbac
qlyday(at)iu.edu

Fun Fact: I have climbed the 37th tallest mountain in the US

Becky Boyd
Undergraduate Student
rebboyd(at)iu.edu

Fun Fact: I’ve crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a boat

Osaro Mocha Undergrad
omocha(at)iu.edu

Fun Fact: I have climbed the 37th tallest mountain in the US

Grayson Miller
HS
graymill(at)iu.edu

Fun fact: my least favorite element is boron

Chantal Aguilar-Felix
HS
chagui(at)iu.edu

Fun Fact: I like raw cookie dough

Former Members

Name

time in lab

position

next step

Carmen Herrera-Sandoval
2021-25
PhD
TBD
Chris Borchers
2021-25
PhD
Asst. Prof (PUI)
Aether Fisher
2022-25
BS
college
Yash Bhargava
2022-24
HS
college
Murphy Angelo
2022-24
postbac
grad school (PhD)
Molly Roe
2022
postbac
grad school (PhD)
Safia Shakil
2020-22
BS
engineer
Manjari Lokendar
2021
postbac
prof school (MD)
Kara Osburn
2019-21
tech
research tech (NJ)
Zacharia Ettaki
2019-20
MS
prof school (OD)

Timeline

Pictures and Posts

Chris presenting his poster at the C. elegans 2022 Development, Cell Biology, and Gene Expression conference. Masks were still required but he was definitely smiling underneath (August 2022).
Left to right: Scott, Yash, Murphy. This was Murphy’s last day in lab before he left to Harvard University. His mentee (Yash) and mentor (Scott) were sad to see him go (July 2024).
Left to right: Madison and Carmen. Madison presenting her summer research project (July 2022).
Left to right: Chris, Dariana, Aether, Murphy, Carmen, Madison. Lab picture of all the graduate and undergraduate students. (July 2022).
Chris giving a talk at a conference. Great job as usual (August 2022).
Left to right: Chris and Carmen. Exploring Madison, Wisconsin with the help of a cow. Cheese curds anyone? (August 2022).
Murphy presenting a poster at the ASCB conference. Nervous but excited to be there (December 2023).
Left to right: Carmen, Murphy, and Chris. Lab adventure to see the Indy 500 race cars practice going in circles. The sun was burning everyone’s necks but not Carmen’s eyes (May 2023).
Left to right: Yash, Murphy, Chris, Aether, Becky, Carmen, and Scott. Despite what you might be thinking, EVERYONE showed up to support Aether’s end of the summer research presentation (July 2024).
Left to right: Carmen, Murphy, and Chris. Enjoying some boba tea curtesy of Scott after our lab trip to IU Bloomington (May 2024).
Left to right: Chris, Murphy, and Carmen. Big smiles as we prepared for our all-you-can-eat Brazilian steakhouse dinner in Boston. Thanks Scott! (December 2023).
Scott surprised Chris with a worm themed birthday cake. First and only cake ever. Good thing Scott doesn’t have favorites, am I right? (August 2023).

Lab Fur Friends

28 Jan 2026